Barbecue and Bacon Meatloaf

This picture sucks because it was only at the very last minute that I decided my meatloaf masterpiece required photographic documentation.  And my speedlight batteries were dead. However, it was taken at ISO 5000 (! What what, 7D?!), so yay for awesome low light shooting capabilities. Also, yay for awesome meatloaf with bacon, ugly and unphotogenic as it may be.


Barbecue and Bacon Meatloaf 

Adapted from "Not-So-Basic Meatloaf", based on what I had on hand.  I skipped the bay leaves and extra garlic altogether and I don't think they were missed at all.

Ingredients:

•  5 strips of bacon, diced
• 1/2 of a medium onion, finely diced
• 1 carrot, grated
• 4 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
• 2 cups dry white bread (I used a baquette), diced
• 1 cup milk
• 1 pound ground turkey (I used dark meat - it's just what they had at MOM's)
• 1 pound lean beef
• 1/4 cup barbecue sauce, plus 1 tbsp for the top
• 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 cup parsley, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 
2. Cook bacon until just crisp in frying pan. Remove to paper towel-lined plate. 
3. Pour out almost all bacon grease and saute onion, carrot and garlic until onions are translucent and carrots are soft. Set aside to cool.
4. Meanwhile, put bread in large bowl and cover with milk. Squish together to break up bread and get the milk mostly absorbed. 
5. Add vegetables, bacon and the rest of the ingredients (except the extra tablespoon of barbecue sauce).  Mix together. 
6. Form a loaf-ish shape on a foil-lined baking sheet, about 8"x5". Spread remaining barbecue sauce over top. Bake for about an hour, until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. Allow to cool a few minutes before serving.

Poetic license and lasagna

I made this lasagna almost two weeks ago but Chris was so enamored, so awestruck by this cheesy, sausagey fantasmagasm that he forbid me from blogging about it until he could come up with a suitable ode. Specifically, a haiku. A haiku for a pasta dish. We either sound like the most boring people on the face of the earth ("Hey, guys! Let's watch slides of our trip to Scranton!") or the most awesome ("You know that 'salted caramel' thing? I invented that. And then I put it in chocolate. And added booze.")(Or maybe that imaginary person would only be cool to me.).

I give you, "Lasagna"*

Unbridled pasta
Sausage, cheese, and love combined
Please me to no end

* I know. That's the best title he could come up with. But I like the simplicity. It doesn't over-hype it. Like that whole first paragraph I wrote up there did.  

Don't let my poor food styling deter you from making this awesome lasagna.

Smoked Mozzarella and Italian Sausage Lasagna
Adapted from epicurious

For Sauce

• olive oil
• 1 pound Italian sweet sausages, casings removed
• 2 ounces sliced prosciutto, chopped

• 2 cups chopped onions
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried Italian herbs
• 1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1/2 cup red wine
•  28-ounces of canned tomatoes ( I used 2 cans of diced tomatoes and the sauce was nice and chunky)

For Lasagna

• About 12 no-bake lasagna noodles
• 1 15-ounce container of whole-milk ricotta cheese
• 2 cups (packed) shredded smoked mozzarella cheese, divided
• 1/2 cup grated asiago

Directions:

1. Heat a good glug of olive oil in dutch oven (or large,  heavy-bottomed skillet) over medium high. Brown sausage, breaking it up as you go. When sausage is just about done, add prosciutto  and continue cooking for a few minutes. Remove meat to paper towel-lined plate or bowl.
2. Add another glug of oil to pan and saute onions, celery and garlic. When softened, add herbs and red pepper. When vegetables are brown and translucent, stir in tomato paste and then deglaze pan with wine. When wine is just about absorbed, add tomatoes and sausage mixture. Stir and season with salt and pepper. Continue cooking another 15-20 minutes or until flavors are well combined. 
3. Combine ricotta and 1 1/2 cups of mozzarella. Season with salt and pepper. 
4. Preheat oven to 350. Oil a 13x9 inch pan and begin layering lasagna. Spread 1 cup of sauce evenly over bottom and top with three noodles. Spread about 3/4 cup of cheese mixture over noodles and pour over 1 1/2 cups of sauce. Repeat two more times. End with three noodles sprinkled with remaining mozzarella and asiago. Cover tightly with foil and bake about 30 minutes or until nice and bubbly. Remove foil and continue baking another 15 minutes so that the top browns a bit. Remove from oven and let rest for about 10 minutes before serving.

Chipot-what? Never heard of it.

But of course I have. And like millions of Americans, I love it deeply. This past weekend I tried my hand at some Mexican fare and ended up recreating most of what they heap in to my burrito bowl. The guacamole, black beans and rice and corn and tomato salad were tasty, I won't bother you with recipes (hint: take all of those nouns and add lime juice and cilantro), but the real stars were the carnitas and roasted tomato salsa. Both simple, make-ahead dishes perfect for a summer party.



Carnitas
Adapted from David Lebovitz and Chow
Serves 10ish

Ingredients:

• 7 lbs of pork shoulder, cut in to large chunks, about 5 inches long/wide, fat left on
• Kosher salt
• 2 tbs vegetable oil
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 2 whole dried ancho chile peppers
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 tsp oregano or marjoram
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 4 cloves garlic
• Water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Heat oil in large roasting pan over the stove. Salt pork and the brown on all sides, in batches so that you don't crowd the pan
2. When all the pork is browned, remove and deglaze pan with about a cup of water, scrapping up the browned bits. Stir in spices and garlic.
3. Add pork back to pan and pour over enough water to cover it about 2/3 of the way. Roast for 3 hours or so, until it shreds easily with a fork.
4. When done cooking, remove pork from pan and shred with two forks.  Discard chile peppers and cinnamon. Carefully pour pan juices in to a fat separator and then add them back in to pan with the shredded pork. Serve with variety of taco accoutrements like guacamole, salsa (see recipe below), queso cotiija, rice, beans, etc

Roasted tomato salsa
Adapted from Everday Food, May 2011

Ingredients:

• 3-4 largish tomatoes
• 3 jalapenos, seeded or not depending on the level of spice you'd like and the potency of your peppers. (I seeded two of mine and it still had quite a kick.)
• 1 large white onion, halved
• 3 cloves garlic
• juice from one lime
• handful of cilantro leaves
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat broiler. Place tomatoes, peppers, onion and garlic on baking sheet and broil until the skins start to blacken.
2. Remove garlic skin and toss the roasted vegetables in to a food processor. Process until just smooth. Season with salt and pepper and add cilantro. Process for just a few seconds more to combine.

Quick and Dirty: Antipasto Pasta Salad

An oxymoronic entree. It's similar to pantry pasta, but cold and summery and with a few added elements (really, whatever else antipasto-like that was in my fridge). The real recipe here is for the balsamic vinaigrette. It is my go-to for any green salad and I love it with mixed greens, blue cheese and pear. But it works equally well with the classic Italian flavors of this pasta dish.



Antipasto Pasta Salad
Serves 4 as an entree
Adapted from Everyday Food, June 2011

Ingredients:

• 12 oz cooked pasta is some fun shape
• 1/4 c. pepperoncini, diced
• 1 c. artichoke hearts, diced
• 1/2 c. sundried tomatoes, thinly sliced
• 2-3 oz prosciutto, diced
• 4 oz fresh mozzarella, diced or crumbled
• handful fresh basil, chiffonaded 
• For vinagrette:
• 2 tbs. balsamic vinegar
• 2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbs water
• 1 tsp fancy mustard
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano

Directions:

1. Combine first seven ingredients in large bowl. 
2. Either wisk together dressing ingredients or shake in a small jar (I like to use the empties from this stuff)
3. Pour dressing over salad and toss well. Serve at room temperature.

Quick & Dirty: Five Spice Salmon and Roasted Cauliflower

Some simple Asian flavors for a weeknight. The hot and spicy cauliflower is a nice balance to the rich salmon and they all roast up for a quick and easy meal. The cauliflower is based on this Chow recipe. And boy, do I love Chow. Have you visited yet? So much inspiration. I'm proud to say that I was probably one of their only print subscribers. For all two issues. Stupid dying media grumble grumble.



Five Spice Salmon and Roasted Cauliflower
Serves 3 (Odd portion, I know)

Ingredients:

• 1 head cauliflower, trimmed and cut in to smallish florets
• 1/8 c. soy sauce
• Splash of olive oil
• One shake of crushed red pepper flakes
• ½ tsp or more freshly cracked black pepper
• 3 salmon filets
• Olive oil
• 1/8-1/4 Chinese Five Spice powder
• Kosher salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450. Combine first five ingredients in large bowl and toss. Toss every few minutes while you prepare the salmon.
2. Drizzle salmon with olive oil and rub with spice and add a good pinch of Kosher salt.
3. Spread cauliflower in an even layer on a baking sheet. Place salmon on separate sheet. Pop both in the oven for 20 minutes or so. Stir cauliflower occasionally. Fish will be done when the center is opaque and flakey, cauliflower is done when it’s tender.

Quick & Dirty: Thai Green Curry

Aside from a standard stir-fry, I rarely make Asian food at home. It’s not because I don’t like it or because I’m too busy eating my mayonnaise and bologna sandwiches on Wonderbread, but because I find them a bit intimidating. I shouldn’t – my family has fully embraced Asian cooking. Growing up, our spice cabinet was overflowing with labels written in foreign characters and there was always at least one ginger root slowly rotting in the vegetable drawer. Remind me to tell you about the time I accidentally gulped fish sauce thinking it was iced tea (Or don’t. Just the thought of it is makes me want to gag.).

My Japanese sister-in-law, a great cook who's spent time trekking through Thailand, hooked me up with this recipe. It's an uncomplicated, completely non-intimidating and yet kind of authentic recipe for one of my favorite take-out meals. This only involves a handful of “weird” ingredients – ones that are all shelf-stable and available in pretty much any grocery store.  The vegetables I’ve included are not traditional, though. I love Thai and Japanese eggplant, but unfortunately they make the Peanut’s face break out. Use them if you can, but here I’ve substituted green beans and baby corn.  Adjust the curry to taste, as this is relatively mild. Also, I'm still a little gun shy when it comes to fish sauce . . .

I decided to use this to kick off a new "Quick & Dirty" category. The topic of speedy weeknight meals pops up in conversation so frequently with my friends and family that  I wanted a way to collect and share my own. These will all be simple but relatively nutritious meals that come together in about 20 minutes. Hope it comes in handy! If not, there's always mayonnaise and bologna.

Thai Green Curry Chicken
Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 tbs Thai green curry paste*
• 1 14 oz can of coconut milk*
• 1 lbs boneless, skinless chicken (thighs or breast), very thinly sliced
• 1 c. sliced bamboo shoots*
• 1 can baby corn*
• 2 c. frozen green beans
• 1/3 c. chicken broth
• 2 tsp. fish sauce*
• 2 tsp. brown sugar
• 1 handful fresh basil leaves

Directions:

1.  Heat large skillet over medium high heat. Dissolve curry paste in one cup of coconut milk. Add remaining milk and bring to simmer. Stir in chicken and simmer until cooked through, 5-10 minutes. 
2. Add vegetables, fish sauce and sugar and chicken broth. Simmer for ten more minutes, until bamboos shoots taste like the sauce and not styrofoam.
3. Add basil leaves and stir until wilted. Season to taste with salt, more sugar or fish sauce as desired. Serve over jasmine rice**

*Available in the Asian aisle of most grocery stores.
**To make this extra quick and dirty, I use Trader Joe's frozen jasmine rice.

Asiago and Basil Risotto

This sound fancy but was actually created in a moment of desperation. Since we'd been away for the weekend, our pantry was looking pretty sorry, save some arborio rice. Fate would have it that the last speck of cheese in the house was a perfect amount of asiago and my tiny (but mighty) little basil plant was thriving in a warm windowsill. I'd say that circumstance brought them all together for a delicious meal worth repeating.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 c. onion, finely chopped
• 1 tbs. butter (sorry, MK!)
• 1 cup Arborio rice
• 3/4 c. dry white wine
• 2 1/2 c. chicken broth
• 1/2 c. fresh basil, finely chopped
• 1/2 c. shredded asiago cheese
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Melt butter in pan over medium heat. Add onion and saute until soft. 
2. Add rice and continue to saute and stir until it becomes a little bit translucent. 
3. Pour in white wine and cook, stirring frequently, until it has all been absorbed by the rice. 
4. While wine cooks off, heat broth for a minute or two in a large mug in the microwave. Until it gets a little bit steamy.
5. Add 1 c. broth. Like the wine, stir frequently and allow it to be absorbed by the rice. Do the same rest of the broth, in 1/2 c. batches.
6. When the rice is just cooked through and has absorbed all of the liquid, stir in basil and cheese.

Pork Chops with Country Gravy

I found this recipe in an issue of Cooking Light that I took from the jury room of my county courthouse. In case you were wondering - I was excused. Which is probably a good thing since people that steal stuff from courthouses don't usually have the best moral compass. But I'm so glad I showed up to perform my civic duty that day. I got a whopping $8 and one of my favorite weeknight meals. This was the recipe that helped me get over my gravy fear, fortunately for everyone but my thighs (who can just shut up about it, already).

Pork Chops with Country Gravy
Adapted from Cooking Light
Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/4 tsp. dried marjoram
• 1/4 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp. dried sage
• 4 boneless loin pork chops
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tbs butter
• 2 cups milk

Directions:

1. Combine flour and spices. Season pork with salt and pepper and then dredge through flour mixture. Set aside remaining flour for gravy.
2. Melt butter in skillet over medium high heat. When hot, add pork chops. Brown well on each side, then lower heat and continue cooking until cooked through. When done, remove to plate. Keep skillet on medium heat.
3. Combine leftover flour mixture with milk in a bowl. Search frantically around your kitchen for a whisk. Expand search to living room and find whisk in toy box. Wash very, very thoroughly.  Actually, you can probably skip that part if you don't have a toddler obsessed with kitchen utensils. 
4. Use newly sterilized whisk to stir milk/flour slurry in to hot pan. Bring to a simmer, whisking constantly.  Season with salt and pepper (lots of fresh cracked pepper). Cook for about two minutes, until very thick. Pour over pork chops and mashed potatoes.

Split Pea and Sausage Stew

The one good thing about this reluctant spring weather is that it’s given me a lot of time to cook.  So, I’m trying to take advantage of that, rather than being bummed that our weekend beach trip was rained out or that the footing is too muddy to take the dogs for a hike. It seems I’m also on some kind of weird mission to use these amazing chicken and apple sausages anywhere I can.  First, we ate them by themselves as an entrée with some braised cabbage on the side. Then, they started sneaking in to pasta. Now they’ve managed to totally steal the show from the poor little split peas in this soup.

And now feel free to insert your own off-color joke about loving sausage here. Don't think I can't hear your muffled giggles, Internet. You're so immature.

Split Pea and Sausage Stew

Serves 4-6 as entrée

Ingredients:

• 1 lb chicken and apple sausage, diced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 medium carrots, peeled and diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 ½ c. dried split peas, rinsed
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1 bay leaf
• Cracked pepper
• 4-5 cups chicken broth

Directions:

1. Heat large pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add sausage, onion, carrots, celery, garlic and potatoes and stir about. If mixture starts to stick, add olive oil. Cook until sausage is browned and onions starts to turn translucent.
2. Add split peas and spices and stir. Add broth and bring to simmer, then reduce to medium-low heat. Cover and keep at a low simmer, stirring occasionally, until peas are completely soft and soup is nice and thick (although you can add more broth if you’d like), about 30-40 minutes.

Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork

When the Pioneer Woman posted this recipe earlier in the week, I knew that making it would be in my near future. Her super easy  brisket has successfully fed many carnivores at my house, and this pork sounded like it was in the same vein. We ended up with a chilly weekend and no plans - the perfect excuse to slow cook a giant hunk of meat. Chris described it as "pretty good for indoor pork", which seems like an accurate description. For something that wasn't dry rubbed overnight and then smoked for hours over apple wood, the results were quite tasty.

I wish I had used the larger can of chipotles, as PW recommends. I was trying to ensure it would be toddler-friendly, but it could definitely have used a little more kick. I also wish I'd used more onions. At the end, I chopped up the onions and peppers and threw them back in the shredded pork. More onions would have been nice. Before serving, I reduced the cooking liquid to concentrate the flavor and make it a little thicker and I also added a bit of mustard. Overall, an incredibly simple and delicious pulled pork with a lot of versatility. We served on rolls with purple coleslaw, but it might end up on tortillas or in pasta sauce later this week.

Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork
Serves 8-10
Adapted from The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients:

• 1 5-8 lb pork butt or shoulder (my cut had a large bone in the center, not sure if it was mislabeled or not)
• 1-2 large onions, cut in to wedges
• salt and pepper
• 1 can chipotle peppers (I used 7 oz, PW calls for 11 oz.)
• 2 cans (or 3 cups) Dr. Pepper
• 2 tbs brown sugar
• 2 tbs mustard

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Spread onions over bottom or large dutch oven or roasting pan. 
2. Season pork liberally with salt and pepper. Place over top onions. Pour chipotles and Dr. Pepper over pork. Dissolve brown sugar in a bit of Dr. Pepper and pour over meat as well.  Tightly cover pan and place in oven. 
3. Roast for six hours (carefully turning every hour or so),  until meat easily pulls apart.
4. Remove meat to cutting board. Pull apart with forks, discarding large clumps of fat and bone. Chop onions and peppers and mix in with meat.
5. Pour juices in to a fat strainer. Once separated, pour about two cups of juices in to small sauce pan. Bring to simmer and reduce to about half. When reduced, add mustard.
6.  Add juices back to shredded meat and serve.

Roast Chicken with Bacon and Olives

Bacon and olives and chicken. Yes and yes and yes, please.  We had our neighbors over on Saturday night for a low-key dinner (Hi Julie & Dan! I’ll post about carrots soon!) and this came together so quickly and easily. The most time-consuming component, by far, was hacking apart the whole chicken. I can’t wait to try it again with bone-in thighs or breasts and let that damn butcher do all the work. 

Bad lighting, good chicken.

Roast Chicken with Bacon and Olives

Serves 6-8

Adapted from Gourmet

Ingredients:

• 1 chicken (about 5 lbs), cut in to parts
• 1/8 c. olive oil
• 1 tsp dried thyme (used in lieu of fresh – use fresh if you have it!)
• 1 tbs fresh rosemary, finely chopped
• Salt and pepper
• 10 garlic cloves, peeled
• 4 slices bacon, diced
• ½ c. dry white wine
• 1 c. pitted calmata olives

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450. Toss chicken with oil, herbs, garlic and good dose of salt and pepper.  Top with bacon. Roast until chicken begins to brown (20ish minutes).
2. Add olives and wine and cook for another 20-30 minutes, until chicken is cooked through. Let rest a few minutes before serving.

Pork Chops with Rosemary Wine Sauce and Blue Cheese Polenta

Okay, I lied about doing more complicated recipes over the weekend. But at least this one seems fancier, right? Because of the wine? And the blue cheese? Regardless, it is good. I promise you that. The red wine sauce was stolen from a meal a few weeks ago. It is eye-rollingly yummy with the polenta (or “classy grits”, as I like to call them).

Pork chops with Rosemary wine sauce

Serves 4

Ingredients:

•   Olive oil
• 4 pork chops (I used boneless loin chops, about ¾” thick)
• Salt and pepper
• 3 springs rosemary
• ¾ c. red wine
•   ½ c. broth
• 3 tbs. cold butter
• 1 tbs Dijon mustard

 Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 250. Heat oil in heavy skillet over medium high heat. Season chops liberally with salt and pepper. Brown chops on both sides, until just cooked through. Transfer to a baking sheet and keep warm in oven.
2. Add rosemary to skillet. Deglaze with wine. Cook until wine is reduced and syrupy.
3. Add broth and continue to reduce for a few minutes. Then remove rosemary and stir in butter, one pat at a time. Stir in mustard.
4. Spoon over chops and serve.

Blue cheese Polenta

Serves 4+

Ingredients:

• 4 ½ c. water
• 1 c. polenta (or grits or corn meal)
• 2 tbs. butter
• ½ c. of your favorite crumbled blue cheese

 Directions:

1. Bring water to a boil. Quickly whisk in polenta. Reduce heat to medium.
2. It will only take a few minutes for the polenta to thicken – stir frequently. When nice and thick, add butter and blue cheese. Stir until fully incorporated. Serve and smile.

Salmon in Puff Pastry

This turned out pretty well for a weeknight meal, if I do say so myself. It was also surprisingly easy for something that combines pastry and seafood (and yes, I realize that sounds kind of gross, but think beef wellington, not Rachel Green's Thanksgiving Trifle).  The serving size is a little odd, but that worked out perfectly for our family and the salmon fillet I bought (.7 lbs) was an exact fit for one sheet of puff pastry.

 

Salmon in Puff Pastry
Serves 3

Ingredients:

• 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
• 1 skinless salmon fillet
• salt and pepper
• 1 tbs brown sugar
• 1 tbs stone ground mustard
• 1 egg, beaten

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lay out puff pastry on floured work surface. Roll out until it's a little over a foot in each direction. Cut in to three strips.
2. Divide salmon in to three portions. Season all over with salt and pepper. Mix together brown sugar and mustard. Spread over top of each piece.
3. Place a piece of salmon in middle of each strip of pastry. Fold over long edges and seal with egg wash. Crimp open ends with fork tines. 
4. Bake 30-40 minutes until golden brown. Allow to cool at least five minutes before serving.

Swiss Chard and Ricotta Calzones

Chris asked if we could call these Chardzones.

Swiss Chard and Ricotta Calzones
Adapted from Epicurious 

Ingredients:

• 1 lb prepared pizza dough (I used Trader Joe's herb-y version and I think plain would have actually worked better. The herbs overpowered the chard and cheese)
• olive oil
• 8 cups swiss chard, chopped with stalks removed
• 1 tsp. balsamic vinegar
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2/3 cup ricotta
• 2/3 cup shredded mozzarella
• 2 tbs parmesan
• 1 egg yolk
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. If chilled, take dough out of refrigerator and leave on counter, 20-60 minutes before baking. 
2. Preheat oven to 425. 
3. Heat 2 tsp of olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and stir, just in until garlic is fragrant and soft. Add swiss chard and vinegar and cook until wilted. Remove from heat and drain any liquid. 
4. Combine cheeses and egg, season with salt and pepper. Mix with chard.
5. Quarter dough and roll out in to four rounds, about 6-8 inches wide. Fill and fold in half. Crimp over edges - pinching along to form a rope around the edge. 
6. Bake on oiled sheet pan until golden brown. Allow to cool a few minutes before serving. Serve with marinara.

Chop chop

Another easy weeknight meal for the rotation. It's Friday and these are just pork chops (tasty and easy pork chops, but still), so I'm having a hard time coming up with witty comments. So, I'll leave you with a Simpsons quote:

Homer: Are you saying you're never going to eat any animal again? What about bacon?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Ham?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Pork chops?
Lisa: Dad, those all come from the same animal.
Homer: Heh heh heh. Ooh, yeah, right, Lisa. A wonderful, magical animal:

Pork Chops with Apples and Onions
Adapted from Mad Hungry

Ingredients:

• 6 pork chops (I used boneless loin chops and was pleasantly surprised that they didn't dry out)
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1 apple, sliced thinly
• 1 onion, sliced thinly
• 1-2 springs fresh rosemary
• 1/2 c. apple cider

Directions:

1. Heat  olive oil in large skillet over medium high heat. Season chops liberally with salt and pepper. 
2. Brown chops in skillet on both sides, in batches if necessary to avoid overcrowding the pan. Remove to plate. 
3. Add apple, onion and rosemary to skillet and stir. Cook until onion begins to soften a bit. Add cider and continue to stir until cider starts to evaporate and thicken. Once it's thickened considerably, add chops back to pan and cook until done. Remember to pick out the rosemary springs before serving!

Giving you the bird

Seemed like an appropriate title for the classiest of all poultry preparation - beer can chicken. This dish is slightly more refined though, featuring Guinness and a sauce made with fig jam. I actually had a huge post written up with the recipe and my notes. And then Blogger ate it. And I cried. And then I drank a glass of wine and realized that I might as well just link you on over to the original version at the Real Martha Stewart.

My adaptation put the softened butter (mixed with fresh rosemary, salt and pepper) under the skin of the bird, rather than on top. That's a great trick for extra flavor and moisture in any variation of roast chicken. Chris loooved the fig sauce. I thought it was a bit sweet and in retrospect probably could have benefited from some Dijon mustard.

Happy Saturday! Now, where did I put that wine?

Ribeyes, rosemary and red wine.

Or, the cure for the common toddler. Colin was in rare form on Saturday evening. He was coming down with a cold, had new molars poking through and was functioning off a mere 45 minute car nap.  Luckily, we were able to put him down for bed a little early and reward ourselves with glorious hunks of red meat and a fair amount of alcohol. We typically grill steaks, but it's too cold to even think about standing outside for that amount of time. I found this perfectly simple and delicious recipe for pan seared steaks with a tasty red wine sauce in my January Martha Stewart Living. The rosemary, which is growing like mad in a pot on my dining room table, was my idea. Blue cheese mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus were great accompaniments.

Steaks with  Red Wine and Rosemary Sauce
Based on this recipe from Martha Stewart.

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons olive oil.
• 2 big ole steaks like ribeye, delmonico or New York strip. 
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tsps finely chopped fresh rosemary, plus two springs.
• 3/4 cup red wine
• 1/2 cup beef stock
• 1 tbs butter, cold
• 1 tbs Dijon mustard

Directions

1. Heat the oil over medium high in skillet. Heat oven to 250. 
2. Rub steaks all over with salt, pepper and chopped rosemary. 
3.  When screaming hot, sear steaks for about 4 minutes per side (and if they're very thick, sear the short sides as well), until thermometer reads 130 degrees. 
4. Place steaks on cookie sheet or oven proof platter in oven while you cook the sauce.
5. Reduce heat to medium, and deglaze with wine. Add rosemary sprigs. Cook until almost mostly reduced, about 5 minutes. Add stock, and cook a few minutes more until reduced further. Turn off heat and whisk in butter and mustard. Add any accumulated juices on cookie sheet/platter. Season sauce with salt and pepper and spoon over steaks. 

Pork Loin Stuffed with Pears and Blue Cheese

This was a very tasty Sunday dinner, but I'm not going to lie - it wasn't the best version of this dish that I've made. Unfortunately, when I did make that eye-roll-of-pleasure pork loin a few weeks ago, I neglected to write down any of my steps and so, this was my best attempt to recreate it. I'm not quite sure what was off here - the ripeness of the pear? The type of blue cheese? Hit me up in the comments if you have any suggestions for improvements. And what do you think of the sauce idea? It worked well, but I wonder what might have been better? Something with port? Your thoughts are welcome!

Pork Loin Stuffed with Pears and Blue Cheese , topped with Balsamic Cream sauce

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs pork loin, butterflied and pound flat
• 1 pear, peeled and diced
• 1/2 c. blue cheese, crumbled
• salt and pepper
• olive oil
• 1 tbs balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 c. heavy cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Sprinkle unrolled pork with salt and pepper and then distribute pears and blue cheese evenly, leaving about an inch margin on all sides. 
3. Start at one short end and slowly roll pork up tightly. Tie with butcher's string every inch or so. Tuck ends in as best you can. Sprinkle outside of roast with salt and pepper.
4. Heat a large, oven-safe skillet over medium high. Add a tbs of olive oil and brown pork on all sides, about 10 minutes. 
5. Place pan in oven and roast until meat thermometer shows internal temp of 145 degrees, about 45 minutes. 
6. Remove roast from pan and allow to rest on cutting board. Place pan on burner over medium high. Deglaze with balsamic vinegar. 
7. Once vinegar is reduced and sticky, whisk in cream. Turn down heat and reduce a bit more. 
8. Slice roast in one inch thick slices, top with sauce.

Duck redux

A few weeks ago I had the grand idea to cook one of my very favorite dishes, duck au poivre, for our New Year's Eve meal. I've made it successfully before, but I ran to the internet to remind me of the basic method. And lo, what did appear? My very own recipe from this very blog ranked third in Google results. I immediately thought I'd made an embarrassing spelling error in both the recipe title and my search terms (poivre? pouvre? pwav?) but no. Maybe those crazy spam comments with viral links were good for something after all? Higher Google rankings?

Anyway, I ended up following the same recipe I blogged previously and it was just as amazing as it was in 2007. I still want to bathe in this sauce. These took about twice as long to cook as last time because there were huge magrets, not muscovy (I think). Here is an ever-so-slightly-better photo:


(Phood photography iz hard)

And! We had not only leftover duck breast, but a fair amount of wonderful rendered duck fat. For dinner one night this week we'll have Asian Duck Wraps (wraps, rice, shredded lettuce, duck and green onions topped with plum sauce). And we enjoyed potatoes and carrots roasted with duck fat and rosemary as a side to tonight's mediocre turkey meatloaf.





Quack.